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Protean vs Malleable - What's the difference?

protean | malleable |

As adjectives the difference between protean and malleable

is that protean is exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms while malleable is able to be hammered into thin sheets; capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers.

protean

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms.
    • An amoeba is a protean animalcule.
    His plots and protean characters plunge readers into the world of fable, yet their universal appeal, as this biography shows, is deeply rooted in the particularity of Garcia Marquez’s own idiosyncratic early life...
  • * :
    • He loved to show off his protean talent.
  • Of or pertaining to Proteus; characteristic of Proteus.

    • See also

    * Protea * shapeshifting

    Anagrams

    * * * English eponyms English words suffixed with -an

    malleable

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Able to be hammered into thin sheets; capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers.
  • (metaphorical ) Flexible, liable to change.
    • My opinion on the subject is malleable .
  • (cryptography, of an algorithm) in which an adversary can alter a ciphertext such that it decrypts to a related plaintext

    • Related terms

    * malleability * malleableness * malleably * malleate

    Coordinate terms

    * ductile

    References

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